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Various reports say 2013 AL Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer has agreed to a seven-year contract with the Washington Nationals. Neither the Nationals nor Scherzer's agent immediately responded to requests for comment Sunday night. Scherzer, a 30-year-old right-hander, is a free agent after spending the last five seasons with the Detroit Tigers. He turned down an offer from Detroit last March that would have paid him $144 million from 2015-20. He was 18-5 with a 3.15 earned-run average in 2014, a year after going 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and being voted the best pitcher in the American League. The NL East champion Nationals' starting rotation already includes Stephen...

David Price reached a $19.75-million, one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers, avoiding arbitration. His contract is the largest one-year deal for a player who filed for arbitration, topping Max Scherzer’s $15,525,000 agreement with the Tigers last year.
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In Ned Colletti's first winter as Dodgers general manager, he made three trades, a perfectly reasonable volume. In Andrew Friedman's first winter in charge, he dominated the winter meetings by making four trades within 24 hours.
There was the midnight...

Put Jake Peavy on the San Francisco Giants, and he suddenly turns into quite a postseason performer.
Same for a couple of rookies, Hunter Strickland and Joe Panik.
Seems that October aura Manager Bruce Bochy has cultivated with the Giants rubs off on...

The aces went down in a hurry this October. Clayton Kershaw and David Price, gone. Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer, done. Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander, out. Jered Weaver and Jordan Zimmermann, see you in spring training.
The best starting pitcher...

This is not the postseason of the ace.
If pitching wins in October, the best pitching ought to win the most. Not this October.
Clayton Kershaw, the best pitcher on the planet? Two tries, no wins. Jon Lester and Stephen Strasburg? One try for each, no...

The clock had just struck 10 on Sunday morning, the dawn of a classic day of baseball. This was Game 162, and not one postseason matchup was set.
The Dodgers did not know what team they would play. But they knew they were in the playoffs, and their first...

WASHINGTON — The San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals both missed the postseason last year. That's pretty much where the similarities end heading into Friday's NL division series opener.
Bruce Bochy has managed the Giants to two of the last four...

KEY MOMENT: After the Dodgers loaded the bases in the sixth inning on an error and two infield hits, Hanley Ramirez, Andre Ethier and Juan Uribe unloaded them, driving in a run each with a single, a fielder's choice and a single to break open a...

It is not unusual for a kid to decide he has no interest in going into the family business. It is a bit different for Lucas Giolito, who turned his back on Hollywood and still might come out ahead in the departments of fame and fortune.
His...

Seattle at Texas, Monday-Thursday
It has been 13 years since the Mariners last made the playoffs. Their last winning season was 2009. Robinson Cano is off to a fast start. Seattle starters are pitching well. New to Texas: Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo...

Team outlooks are listed in predicted order of finish. Lineups and rotations are projections.
EAST DIVISION
1 l Washington
2013 l 86-76, second place
Last year in playoffs l 2012
They are supposed to blossom after years of suffering, top draft...

It started off like it would be a wild game, filled with the unexpected. Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg and the Dodgers’ undefeated Dan Haren were all over the plate.
Both pitchers gave up a pair of first-inning runs. Command was a rumor.
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KEY MOMENT: After a rough first inning, Dan Haren retired nine of the next 10 batters to keep the Dodgers in the game. But that came undone in the fifth when three of the first four batters reached base ahead of a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Wilson...

WASHINGTON — It seemed only fitting that the Dodgers had to wait out one final rain delay Wednesday before they could close the books on one of the most difficult road trips in recent memory.
In the span of 10 days and nine games the Dodgers endured a...

Dr. Lewis Yocum, the longtime Angels team physician and nationally renowned orthopedic surgeon who saved or extended the careers of hundreds of major league baseball players, died Saturday after quietly battling liver cancer. He was 65.
Yocum, who was in...

ST. LOUIS – If Michael Wacha is the latest man about town in this baseball-crazed town, he hasn’t discovered it yet.
“I still go to Target,” he said Friday. “I still go to the grocery store. Nobody really notices me or anything like that.”
The Dodgers...

By his standards, Andre Ethier had a fairly quiet first half. Not horrific, just not up to his standards.
He has willingly played every outfield position without complaint, but a .268 batting average, five home runs and 28 runs batted in in the...

More than two decades after his futile attempt to draw Penn State's attention as a player, James Franklin was hired Saturday by the university as its football coach. Franklin, 41, replaces Bill O'Brien, who left for the NFL's Houston Texans coaching job...